Permanent electric dipole moments (EDMs) violate parity ($P$), time reversal ($T$), and combined charge-conjugation and parity transformation ($CP$) assuming $CPT$\ symmetry. Radium-225 is expected to have an enhanced atomic EDM because its nucleus is octupole-deformed. In the Ra EDM experiment, $^{225}$Ra atoms are vaporized in an effusive oven, slowed and collimated by cooling lasers, and trapped between two high voltage electrodes. We measure the spin precession frequency of the trapped radium in uniform, applied electric and magnetic fields and search for a frequency shift correlated with the electric field, the signature of a nonzero EDM.There are two first generation radium EDM measurements.The most recent measurement reduced the upper limit to $1.4 \times 10^{-23} e$ cm. In the upcoming second generation measurements, we will implement key upgrades to improve our EDM sensitivity by up to three orders of magnitude. This thesis focuses on my work improving the electric field strength and laser cooling efficiency for the second generation measurements.Additionally, The Facility of Rare Isotope Beams is expected to produce Radium-225 that can be harvested for EDM measurements. We are developing a laser induced fluorescence experiment that will measure the absolute flux of a directed beam of atoms emitted from an effusive oven. The flux measurement will use stable surrogate isotopes to characterize radium harvesting efficiency. I will report the results of our initial efforts modeling and measuring the atomic beam fluorescence of multiple atom sources.
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